for the olympic year: 'the naked olympics: the true story of the ancient games' by tony perrottet

This lively account of the classical Olympics portrays them as “the Woodstock of antiquity,” and claims that the Games, while taken seriously, were also where Greeks gathered for a five-day debauch. A prostitute could earn a year’s wages in the course of the tournament, Thessalonian peddlers sold love potions made from horse’s sweat and minced lizard, and pentathletes competed to the accompaniment of flutes, perhaps the ancient equivalent of stadium rock. The festival offered beauty pageants and Homer-recitation contests, numerologists and fire-swallowers, and such culinary delicacies as roasted sow’s womb. Athletic events also fuelled a thriving pickup scene: a message etched into the wall of a stadium at Nemea reads, “Look up Moschos in Philippi—he’s cute.”

This lively account of the classical Olympics portrays them as “the Woodstock of antiquity,” and claims that the Games, while taken seriously, were also where Greeks gathered for a five-day debauch. A prostitute could earn a year’s wages in the course of the tournament, Thessalonian peddlers sold love potions made from horse’s sweat and minced lizard, and pentathletes competed to the accompaniment of flutes, perhaps the ancient equivalent of stadium rock. The festival offered beauty pageants and Homer-recitation contests, numerologists and fire-swallowers, and such culinary delicacies as roasted sow’s womb. Athletic events also fuelled a thriving pickup scene: a message etched into the wall of a stadium at Nemea reads, “Look up Moschos in Philippi—he’s cute.”